On Wednesday night the company of the School-Theatre gave a performance composed of fragments of Russian operas, the Soviet songs of the war years and the antiwar works of the composers of today.
The central concert hall of the Mayor's Office of Madrid could not seat all those wishing to attend the concert. The public warmly welcomed the young Russian artists, and the concert ended to the continuous applause of the audience.
The photo exhibition of RIA Novosti about the Great Patriotic War, held in the entrance hall, also roused great interest.
As Germany's Ambassador to Spain Georg Boomgaarden stated, the end of World War II is an important date for the German people, since it brought them liberation from Nazism and the beginning of the democratic development.
A similar event was held on May 2 in Barcelona where the Spanish public also showed great interest in the young artists' concert on the antiwar theme and the photo exhibition.
Galina Vishnevskaya, born in 1926, is a well-known Russian singer (lyrical-dramatic soprano). She was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) where she started her career of a singer, and became a soloist of Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow) in 1952. She performed also as a chamber singer, specifically in an ensemble with well-known cellist Mstislav Rastropovich whom she married in 1955. In 1974 she left the USSR and lived in the USA, then in France. She performed in the world's major theatres till 1982. In 1978 she, together with her husband, was deprived of the USSR citizenship, and the decree was abrogated 12 years later, in 1990. Ms. Vishnevskaya returned to Russia.
Ms. Vishnevskaya was decorated with the French order Legion of Honour.
